Heyas,

Mostly DTW runs pretty well. About %10 of the time you'll need to call for a park job.

Outbounds, OTOH, run very smooth. They've been very good about the paperwork issue, and no one has said "boo" about waiting for the numbers.

FWIW, MSP is about the same. Expect to wait on game day when the Vikings, Packers, Timberwolves or whoever else is playing.

MEM was really the only exception. That place runs pretty well. In the past, it ran like clockwork.... you'd be hooked up to AC and electric practically as the parking brake was set, and you'd be sat down infront of your Interstate BBQ before you could say "boo". MEM is still my favorite place...they'll never get that BBQ smell out of the terminal untill they knock it down. You smell it right from the time they open the cabin door...mmmmm....

As for the APU thing, yea, you guys have a point. There is some past policy issues with this, but suffice to say, the rampers still take a running APU as a "don't plug us in" signal. Even calling into ops for a plug in results in a, shall we say, a tepid response.

Plugging in the AC is even worse, and I notice that compliance with this is pretty poor, even at DAL stations. Quite frankly, APU Sheriff or not, I'm not going to let my Pax bake. It takes a LONG time to cool down a DC-9 on the best of days, and if you don't have external A/C and you wait 5 minutes before push to fire up the APU, then you'll cook until you start down at your destination.

Flew a trip with more DAL airplanes than NW last time around. Still amused by the fDAL response to the 753, though. We were coming down the jetway to meet the outbound crew, and they were "man, this is the long one, here is the gou...oh, wait, you guys are fNW...never mind". All done with smiles and good nature, though.

Nu